Fire & Snow

Chapter 17

I admitted that I liked talking to Aydan and when he told me to ask him any question and he would answer, it was a no brainer. I knew exactly what I want to ask him and he ended up not answering it the way that I had expected him to.

“What do you think senior year will be?” I asked Chance and Alex who were both laying down on the grass. It was a Thursday afternoon and we had no class so we had decided to spend the time outside soaking up the sun and also getting fresh air at the same time, something that we had not done since freshman year. 

Alex turned his head in my direction and then used his hands to shield his eyes from the sun. “I don’t know. It might be a fun year or it might not,” he replied. “Why are you even asking about senior year when we are still sophomores or more accurately we just became sophomores this year?” he asked me.

“I am just curious on how life will be considering that we will be all busy with out final year projects and applying for jobs and whatnot,” I replied with a half-shrug and then took a sip from my water bottle. I might enjoy the sun soaking but it was hot as hell and my body felt dehydrated even though I had already drunk three bottles of water since we came outside.

Chance rolled on his side, which made his hair to fall in his eyes. It made him look cute for some reason. “I know it’s going to be a lot of work but if we are serious enough and our grades in junior year are really good, we won’t have to worry about applying for job because my friend who graduated last year told me that."

“How do you know so many people? Seriously, this is so unfair to me,” Alex whined and then narrowed his eyes at Chance and I. “You and Neva know so many people while the only ones that I know are you and Neva, so unfair. I mean, yesterday that popular junior guy came over to our room just to talk to you.”

Who was he talking about? I had an idea on who he could be talking about but I did not want to guess and then end up being wrong. That would only bring about unnecessary questions that I did not want to have to answer.

Chance rolled his eyes. “Even Neva knows Aydan. I mean, he did help her with Math once upon a time and even got us at the front of the lunch line. So if anyone knows Aydan more it’s definitely Neva and not me.”

“Oh please, you guys talked for like an hour while I waited for you to come back so we could finish playing League of Legends,” Alex said with an eye roll and then turned to me. “Seriously, you should have seen them together, it was as though they had known each other for like five years or something.”

“Stop exaggerating it,” Chance replied and then sat up straight. “We just talked for less than that and if I remember correctly, he was asking me questions about……” then he kept quiet, which piqued my interest more than I cared to admit.

“What were you talking about and why did you abruptly stop talking?” I asked with an arched eyebrow and then took a drink from my water bottle.

Chance looked at me and then scratched the back of his neck in an uncomfortable way. I continued looking at him but he looked anywhere but at me.

“Chance, what did you guys talk about?” I asked once more. His nervousness was making me nervous for some reason and I hated it. “You can’t just start saying something and then stop abruptly after you almost said something of interest to us.”

Chance looked at Alex and then adjusted the collar of his shirt and then fanned himself with his hand. “Um… you see, the thing is….”

Alex rolled his eyes and leaned on the tree while he stared at Chance with an incredulous smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Just tell her man, she is your friend and she deserves to know,” he said and that earned him a glare and a shove from Chance. “I’m just saying that she deserves to know what exactly you talked about because you remaining quiet, it kind of looks like you guys were talking about her and you don’t want her to know what exactly it was that you were saying about her.”

Chance had hit Alex again before he finished what he wanted to say. “Okay fine, the thing is…..” he started and then swallowed. “We were not talking about you but we were talking about girls. There I said it,” he threw his hands exaggeratedly and then looked at me directly in the eyes. “You now know what exactly we were talking about and I hope you are happy.”

I did not know whether to believe what he had just told me or to keep asking him more questions until he cracked and told us everything. Chance stood up and picked up his bag.

“I think I will be leaving you guys now,” Chance said with a sigh. “I finally managed to snag a date with Gia.”

My head snapped up at him. “But I thought we would be hanging out today since…. you know, it’s the one day I had off.”

“f**k, I’m so sorry. I forgot and I don’t think I can cancel on her after everything I went through just to get her to finally go out with me,” Chance said sadly. “I wish I would have known early, then I would not have made plans with her.”

I gulped down the last of my water. I know it was going to be selfish of me to ask him to cancel on his plans and I was not such a friend. I was not going to put my happiness before his even if I really did want to. “It’s okay, you can go and I will just hang out with Alex.”

“Are you sure it’s really okay?” Chance asked.

“Yes.”

An awkward befell us until Alex decided to speak. “As in stuck up Gia who thinks she is better than everyone in our year?’ Alex asked with an arched eyebrow. “How did that even happen? Because she always turned you down. Heck, turning you down is a better term for how she treated you so what I want to know is….. what changed for her to finally agree to go out with you?”

“That’s what Aydan and I were talking about,” Chance replied with a casual shrug and hoisted his bag on her left shoulder. “I asked him how to get a girl like her and he gave me some basics that I used on her and they worked like a charm.”

Alex and I looked at each other and then back at Chance. So that explained why he was taking to Aydan but one thing it did not explain was why Chance had seemed so apprehensive to tell us that in the first place. It just did not add up.

“I don’t understand why you would still want to go out with her after how she always turned you down since freshman year,” Alex said. “But good luck anyway, you might need it.”

Chance rolled his eyes. “I don’t need luck and besides, Gia has a nice arse and body. All of which I would very much like to tap,” he replied smugly. “Anyway, I will see you two later.” Then he left. 

                                                                                   ************

The rest of the day was spent with me and Alex binge watching series and eating a ton of junk foods. Something that we had not done in so long. It felt great to just spend time with my friend and not have to worry about this and that because Faith had made Liav give me a day off.

“I missed hanging out with you the entire day,” Alex sighed as he turned to look at me while the credits of the last episode of Shadowhunters played in the background. “You have been so busy these last few weeks that we barely hang out except for before and during class and at lunch.”

“i know, I miss hanging out with you guys too but you know I need the job and the money to pay for my tuition otherwise I might drop out and then we won’t see each other as much as we do now,” I replied with a sigh. It really did suck not being able to spend time with any of my friends as much as I used too. Chance was not here because he had a date with stuck up Gia and Kylie was still at her boyfriend’s place because I was hardly ever around and when I was, I was always hunched over my laptop with no time to catch up on what was happening to the point that she felt neglected by me and had to go to her boyfriend’s place.

“I know Nev, I know,” Alex replied as he wrapped his hands around me and hugged me to his chest. 

I missed Alex’s hug and just being around him as much. He always managed to make me laugh even when I did not want too. 

“And Chance isn’t here on the one day that you are free.”

We stayed like that and I did not want to move from Alex’s hold, it felt so comfortable that my eyes began to slowly close on their own.

                                                                                  ***********

I woke up to a loud beeping sound and I searched the nightstand in the dark. I don’t know how I had fallen asleep but I had and I could not open my eyes. I could not find the source of the noise but the thing kept on blurring non-stop. I searched some more with my eyes still closed and pressed the answer button.

“Hello, who is this?” I asked groggily.

There was a tsk from the other end of the line. “You have forgotten me so easily. I see,” the person replied but I could still not place their voice or who they were. My brain was still foggy from the sleep. 

“Sorry, but really, who is this?” I asked once more as I turned and hit something hard.

“What the hell? Watch it,” Alex said from besides me and then moved away from me. My brain was now starting to piece the pieces together of what had happened during the day and it clicked. I was talking to none other than Aydan, the only person who liked calling me at past midnight to talk. 

“Aydan?” I asked.

“She finally remembered,” he replied with a chuckle. “You sound sleepy and who was that speaking in the back ground?”

I looked over at Alex’s sleeping form and slowly got up and walked out of the room. “That was Alex,” I replied.

“So you asleep with Alex?” Aydan asked and I swear I almost heard jealously and anger in his voice.

“Umm… yeah. We were watching series and we fell asleep somewhere along the way,” I answered softly, afraid that I might Alex up if I talked louder.

“Okay, I guess good night,” Aydan said after a few seconds on silence. “You should go back to sleep.”

I raked a hand through my hair. Even though I still had not worn my glasses, I could see partially and the entire hallway where my room was was quiet. “I guess I should,” I said. “Good night.” I hung up and went back to sleep after that.